The first signs of Uruguay being able to produce 'Williams Precoz' ('Early Bon Chretien') pears during December as an alternative to imported pears has shown good results, according to Julio Pisano. He is a private advisor from the Pintado Growers Group in the Department of Artigas, Uruguay, “the goal was to sell the pears in the local market as well as Brazil during off-seasons, to obtain good sales prices,” he says.
The 'Williams Precoz' ('Early Bon Chretien') pears
“The comparative advantage that this item has in the area is the anticipation of the harvest, managing to produce at a time in December when the product has no national competition, finding only imported fruit in the market, which does not resemble the qualities of this cultivar. After this validation of a few hectares planted, in the near future the productive area will be expanded, where more producers interested in starting with new plantations are already visible. They are implementing new technologies, with a friendlier product with less impact on the environment, the grower, and lower labor cost, to the items that exist in the area. Thinking that at some point the productive area will increase and saturate the Montevideo market UAM (Metropolitan Agri-Food Unit), the nearest markets, as well as the Brazilian market, is seen as a possible sales alternative,” explains Pisano.
He says pear cultivation in Uruguay covers 597 hectares, of which 89.4% is planted with the cultivar widely known as 'Williams' (French). Production takes place mainly in the southern zone, in the departments of Canelones, Montevideo, San José and Colonia.
“For five years I carried out a meticulous study of cultivars, climate and soil, then a group of four growers began with the first plantations of cultivating 'Williams Precoz' ('Early Bon Chretien'), in June 2017, in the area of Pintado, department of Artigas. Two hectares were installed in total, half a hectare per grower. Plants of the 'Forelle' cultivar were installed as pollinators. The new plantations will include two more cultivars, 'Abate Fètel' and 'Etrusca' as pollinators,” states Pisano.
He says the plants began to produce fruit from the 2018/2019 season, reaching the first commercial production in the 2020/21 harvest with 3.5 kg. /pl., followed in 2021/2022 with 7 kg. /pl., and in this latest 2022/2023 harvest, it was 10 kg. /pl. (7200 kg/ha.).
“The harvest is carried out in bins of 250 kg, where it is sent to the south (Montevideo, 600 km) to carry out the packing, the degreening treatment, two days with ethylene and three days in a cold chamber at 0°C, to later be marketed at the UAM, Montevideo. The selling price of the average pear in this 2022/2023 harvest was around $1.33 per kg. In five years the plantation projection will be 50 hectares,” states Pisano.
He describes the plant as productive, with large fruit, pyriform-shaped, with moderately smooth skin and visible lenticels, obtaining an attractive pink cheek in the skin. “The flesh is white, with a fine buttery texture, aromatic, with a very pleasant sweet taste, equal to 'Williams'. It has less delayed foliation than 'Williams' after mild winters. The only drawback of this cultivar has been some cases of genetic instability, reverting to the original type of 'Williams'. For this reason, it is of fundamental importance for bud extraction and future plants, to select mother plants that have not undergone varietal reversal, balanced in force and that should not be pruned severely winter.”
Uruguay’s 100 year old pear trees
“Based on the information processed with growers, pear trees with more than one hundred years have been identified as a background in the area of Pintado, Chacras de Pintado and Guayubira. The trees are in a very good state of health and annually produce fruits that due to their morphological characteristics correspond to the cultivars 'Curé', 'Kieffer', 'Williams' (French), 'Agua Branca', 'D Água' and 'Le Conté',” concludes Pisano.
For more information:
Julio Pisano
Pintado Growers Group
Tel: +598 941 31998
Email: jcpisano@yahoo.es